On the heels of recent moves by the International Monetary Fund, Chinese government officials are moving to increase the internationalization of the yuan by taking bigger steps to open up its financial markets, China Daily reported.

On Monday, the IMF decided to include the yuan in its basket of currencies with special drawing rights.

The DailyBrief

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At Wednesday’s executive meeting of the State Council presided over by Premier Li Keqiang the Council decided to promote greater use of the renminbi in cross-border transactions and better convertibility of the capital account. The meeting also decided to ease cross-border lending in pilot free trade zones in China.

In a statement issued after the meeting, the Council said that it will push forward financial reforms in a risk-controlled environment. It also said would begin trials of certain reforms.

For instance, in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, where small and medium-sized enterprises are better developed, direct financing of SMEs from both onshore and offshore will be encouraged by the government through specialized financial institutions, said China Daily. And in Jilin province, a major grain base, reforms will be conducted on rural finance.